CJI endorses filtering the quota creamy layer

CHIEF Justice of India BR Gavai’s endorsement of the “creamy layer” principle for Scheduled Caste reservations has reopened an important conversation on how affirmative action can be made more just, targeted and effective. His position is not a dilution of constitutional protections but an attempt to ensure that the benefits of reservation reach those who need them the most — the poorest, most socially disadvantaged and least represented segments within the SC community. For decades, the debate around reservations has focussed on expanding quotas, but not enough on their equitable distribution. A small, relatively better-off section within the SC community has repeatedly accessed opportunities in education and government employment, while families trapped in intergenerational deprivation — manual labourers, sanitation workers, landless labour households — continue to remain on the margins. If reservation is meant to correct structural exclusion, then its gains must not circulate within the same small circle.

The creamy-layer principle, already applied successfully for OBCs, is a tool to prevent such monopolisation. Its extension to SCs acknowledges a basic truth: social mobility, though limited, has occurred for some, and policy must adapt to ensure a fairer spread of opportunity. When the child of an IAS officer or senior official continues to claim the same benefits intended for someone from a socially invisible background, the purpose of affirmative action is weakened. Importantly, excluding the creamy layer does not deny caste discrimination. It merely recognises that within any historically oppressed group, degrees of disadvantage differ. Thus, those at the bottom deserve priority access to state support.

The reform should be accompanied by clear criteria, careful measurement of social backwardness and safeguards to prevent misuse. CJI Gavai’s remarks are a reminder that social justice must evolve. A thoughtful exclusion of the creamy layer from SC reservations can reaffirm the constitutional promise of equality.